Pages

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Building a Better Muslin

Here's my muslin of the yellow dress I'm working on, and I'm thrilled with it! I decided to make a muslin of the bodice only, since the skirt will be a circle skirt that I've draped and sewn before. It will just hang from the bodice, so the fit isn't as tricky.

It needs a couple tiny tweaks, but it's way closer than I expected it to be with a complicated design like this. Better still, I love it and I couldn't stop grinning at myself in the mirror when I first tried it on! I think what really contributed to my success with this muslin was following Susan Khalje's advice step-by-step in the book Bridal Couture. There were a lot of extra steps, but it was sooo worth it.

The muslin was cut with 1" seam allowances. I started out by thread-tracing each of the stitching lines on my machine. Here's the upper bust piece, with the thread tracings in a dark thread.

Here's the under bust piece.

After basting all the pieces together, it's important that you basically make your muslin have all of the "engineering" that your finished dress will have: twill tape, bra cups, boning, and a waist stay.

The twill tape is SO important. With a dress like this, it helps cup the fabric to the bust. On your muslin, you just pin it to the outside of your bodice, like so.

I put the bra cups in with a big catch stitch. I could have just tacked them loosely in, but I wanted to practice the catch stitch since that's what I'll use on the actual dress, stitching them just to the underlining. I figured out the placement of the cups by getting topless, holding each cup up to my bust and then holding the bodice up on top of them and pinning them in place. These cups are great; they're from SIL Thread and they're very thin, but molded. Love them.

The waist stay (a length of grosgrain the exact length of your waist measurement) is pinned to the outside of the muslin for fitting purposes, with the bottom of the grosgrain ending right at the waist seamline.

I basted rigeline boning on the side seams only. I will probably use spiral steel boning on the final dress, but it was nice to use rigeline on the muslin since you can sew right through it. (If you're looking for information on sewing a boned bodice, it doesn't get any better than the bustier article in this back issue of Threads magazine.)

I hand-basted in a dress-length zipper to the back (it had to be long so that I could get in and out of it).

And then it was time to try on!

The tweaks that I'm definitely going to make are: 1) taking out a pinch of fullness at the top of the bodice, 2) taking out about 1/4" of ease on each side seam, and 3) adding another set of bones to the back bodice to prevent sagging. I'll position them right under the back darts, and they'll be sewn to the underlining only so they're invisible from the outside. It might also need a swayback adjustment, but I'm going to see if the boning takes care of the problem first.

Quite a process, huh? When I saw all the steps that Susan Khalje recommends in her book, I was a little incredulous, I admit. But they really made ALL the difference in this muslin. I'll definitely be following her advice through the construction process as well!

45 comments:

I can see that this is the muslin for a perfectly beautiful dress. I can't wait to see it in yellow! Your work is inspiring. Thanks for always sharing the beautiful work you do, and thanks for your careful explanations of the processes for novice sewers like myself!

The fit looks pretty amazing! It's so cool to see the construction magic that makes a strapless (essentially since you can't rely on that sweet little halter strap to hold everything up!) bodice not only hug the body, but actually support it! Nice architecture!

Of course you have a nice innocuous white twill tape to go with the final yellow, yes?

Very cool! Isn't it always satisfying when a muslin is nearly spot-on the first time around? Certainly makes the effort put into it that much more pleasant!

I've been a huge fan of "Bridal Couture" since I got it for Christmas years ago, and used a few of the techniques for fitting my ballgown I made last year. It's definitely more prep work than the usual muslins I make (which, I really need to get better about taking my time with; so often I just dash through it because I want to get to the real sewing, darnit!), but in some ways it's really fun because you can "test" the techniques and construction methods out before you make your final gown. Which, sometimes is a good thing--I catch mistakes before making them on the final! Thanks for showing the shot of how you catch stitched the bust cups to the muslin too; I'm in the midst of making a 40s bikini and fitting the bra top, and have to figure out how to incorporate bra cups into the design (even though the original pattern doesn't call for them). Might call for some drastic re-engineering. ;)

Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your process on this project! I am always thrilled to see the steps other seamstresses take to creating a finished garment. While I'm always impressed with the final piece, seeing how one gets there makes it all the more impressive!

Nancy, I have a hard copy of the book. I bought it on Alibris last year for about $10; I was shocked to see that in the meantime the price has skyrocketed to over $100 a copy! So glad I bought it when I did.

Can I just say you totally rock Gertie! I mean seriously that looks like a ton of work. I think this speaks to the reason that well fitting close have gone by the wayside for many people. All this time for someone who does not sew would mean a HUGE expense. But I think it is going to be amazing! I am super jealous that you are making it in yellow I look awful in yellow, also your hair looks very nice down with it so far. Best wishes! - Chrissy

Your creations are stunning. A little off topic, and forgive me if this is really obvious, but how do you transfer the shape of your muslin once you are happy with it to a paper pattern to use to make the final dress? Thanks!

The dress is shaping up well! I'm working on a strapless, but with straps design myself (my first, using cheap poly boning) but I started out with flat pattern drafting. Unfortunately, those bra-cups tend to be sold for B-cup and up, so no use for my barely A bust. Just one note of criticism: I thought from the inspiration picture you showed that those pleats were supposed to stick out a bit, more sculpture-like than they look now. Was that a conscient decision and/or do you prefer it this way?

wow, it does look good!thanks for sharing the details and give us a glimpse of what we could achieve if only we tried draping... (but not yet, it's WAY too scary :p )can't wait to see the finished dress!

Lisa: yes! The lower left tattoo is in-process. The front is a fan (based on an actual vintage fan from my family). I need to call for a coloring appt!

Helen: you can either use your muslin itself as the pattern, or trace it off onto pattern paper. My teacher recommends paper, because it doesn't stretch like fabric does, but Susan Khalje uses the muslin (each piece of it becomes a pattern piece, for a flat cutting layout). It's up to you!

Lauriana, I consciously put less room in the pleats. If you look at the original inspiration photo, the pleats are actually buckling, which I didn't like. There's just a little extra room in my version, Sharon called it a "crumb-catcher" effect. Maybe I'll add just a smidge more since it's not showing up.

This is stunning! I love the lines of it already. And the fit is so fabulous! It's going to make a beautiful dress. Oh I'm so excited to see the makings of the dress. It's really going to be gorgeous! I love your explanations and the process and journey you take us on!

Your work on this is gorgeous -- especially the fit engineering that has gone into the inner architecture and fashion shell. It's great to see you take each step along the way.

For someone who wants a similar effect but is working alone, I thought I might mention that I have seen strapless designer gowns at Neiman Marcus and also vintage with purchased bustiers inside. That is another way to get a perfect bustline fit if the sewist doesn't have the advanced training or tutor help in preparing the fitted inside structure. The fashion shell would go over that inner layer like you have done here. (strapless bras work for swimwear in the same way)...looking forward to your next set of pix!

Being a bustier broad, I've always wanted to attempt to sew my own bustiers, bras, and sew in bra cups but it always seemed such an intimidating, daunting process. Your pictures showing the "innards" of your top are awesome and took out a lot of the mystery. Can't wait to see the final product!

Wow! You're right, it's more like engineering than just plain sewing. So cool seeing it all come together. I must read more on using twill tape around the top edge so it hugs the body. I made a strapless dress and even though it's super constructed, it still pulls away from my body on top...

Gertie, your blog is awesome. I'm in Queens too, so it's always been more interesting reading your blog. I felt compelled to ask you two questions because I'm working on a corset-inspired dress that I designed. 1)I'm considering using rigeline instead of boning; what are the cons? I've never worked with rigeline or boning. 2)how does twill tape help the cup fit better? Thanks so much! Kathy

Thanks, Kathy! Rigeline technically *is* boning. It's very convenient because you can sew right through it; you don't need a channel. It's more flexible than other types of boning, though. I've found that it has a tendency to buckle or crease, which is why I've switched to spiral steel for most of my projects. (You should really get the back issue of Threads I linked to, btw.)

The twill tape helps control some of the ease on the top of the bodice. It's like magic. You can even run a row of gathering stitches and then hand stitch the twill tape to it if you have a lot of curve that needs to be eased in.

Thanks Gertie! Follow-up questions about twill-taping the cups: 1)what is twill tape? is it like that non-sticky style tape? 2)on the final garment, would you put the twill tape along the top of the cup between the fabric and the lining, sewn on the lining? Thanks again!

I'll say it again you've got to meet Susan Khalje in person and take one of her classes. Also, the reason the book is so expensive is because it is out of print. She now owns the rights and you can purchase it in CD format on her website. www.susankhalje.com.

Wow, you are so talented Gertie, this muslin looks great!These dress draping posts get me so excited...I cannot wait to see the finished dress!I hope to try draping myself one day, and your blog has really inspired me to "take leaps of faith" in sewing, and to try out new techniques I may not have had the courage to do.Thanks for the inspiration!

Great post! The guts of garments always fascinate me. I think next time I'm in NYC I'm going to stock up on supplies like twill tape and bra cups instead of just going nuts at fabric stores... usually I only think about these things when it's too late!

Gertie, you are really achieving a nice fit for your garments. I wanted to know if you have used a sloper or fitting shell against which you compare your draped muslins? Do you use a dressform?You're having fabulous results!I'd like some opinions regarding slopers or fitting shells - which are fairly easy to use AND give excellent results? I'd appreciate anyone's advice.